Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile (SQM), Albemarle (ALB) and other lithium stocks tumbled Monday, on worries that surging output to meet demand from Tesla (TSLA) and other makers of electric vehicles will weigh on prices.

Analysts at Morgan Stanley said that new and expanded lithium mines
in Chile "threaten to add" roughly 500,000 metric tons per year to
global supplies by 2025. They predict lithium prices will crash 45% by
2021.

Tesla and other electric car manufacturers use lithium ion batteries to power their vehicles. Last month, SQM and the Chilean government reached a deal to increase production as battery demand climbs.

Eighteen months ago we went with cobalt over lithium as the battery
material that would be in shortest supply and think that is still a
correct assessment. However, if long-suffering reader is interested the
'search blog' box has quite a few hits for 'lithium'....